Menu

Wakeup call

It has been a while since the world has had a tragic wakeup call like that unfolding in Haiti. The massive destruction and loss of life cannot be ignored. Images of pain, suffering, desolation and frustration are criss-crossing the airwaves and internet at an unbelievable rate. We are all a bit numbed.

But, our own fragility and mortality cannot be ignored either. This time it happened “there”. What about tomorrow? How would we react if it was us and not “them”? What if the body bags were for people we knew dearly? What if you were lying in the dark, inching closer to death, crushed between tons of concrete?

Until wakeup calls come, we rarely think about death. We cruise through life thinking tragedy won’t touch us. As we each consider what to do to help those suffering in Haiti, let us also look inward. Let us look toward God, our creator. We can’t let life as usual return without thinking about the deeper issues of life.

Below is a photo of a Mexican woman that goes every morning to this church, to pause, reflect and pray. Her day is centered on this time. We all need moments like these to put aside the distractions and pressures of life to focus on what is really important.

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27

Post navigation

6 thoughts

I agree with you, Gary. If we don’t have those times of prayer and waiting in His presence, the problems that face us–both personally and those we face together with the rest of the world–will quickly come to take the peace that He came to give us–the peace that He wants us to abide in. And it is only when we are abiding in that peace, that we can effectively love and help others as He has called us all to do.

May the peace that passes understanding be yours, today and everyday, and may you never take for granted the blessings of the Lord your God.

I keep revisiting this post. Although you mention the tragedy in Haiti, there’s something peaceful about it…something that reminds me, makes me, take a deep breath. I like that. It’s so easy [for me] to get caught up in life, to want to rush things, but it’s in those moments when I feel like ‘time is of the essence’ that it’s all the more important to simply be still.

I’m at an interesting place in life and I’m full of hope, curiosity, and excited expected-ness (if that makes sense) for how God is going to direct me. Sometimes that curiousness and anxiety gets the best of me…